Leeds-Bradford Cycle Superhighway ‘could be fatal’

A cyclist fears it is only a matter of time until there is a fatal accident on a new ‘cycle superhighway’ after she was injured twice on the road.

Stacey Cuthbertson said she had commuted from Stanningley to Leeds for years without problems but was involved in two accidents since the Leeds-Bradford Cycle Superhighway opened on the route.

She said: “I feel it is only a matter of time before one of these accidents is fatal. A shame when the idea was to make cycling safer and to increase the amount of people cycling to work.”

In the first accident she said she was knocked off her bike by a car crossing the cycle lane and ended up in hospital with facial scarring and nerve damage to her cheek.

The second time, she collided with a pedestrian stepping off a bus into her path.

She said: “The fact people disembarking a bus have no choice but to step out onto the cycle lane was an accident waiting to happen.”

A spokeswoman for CityConnect, which runs the route, said it was designed with an advisory board to encourage safe use and further markers added since June. She said: “We are concerned to hear of any incidents involving cyclists in West Yorkshire and wish this person a speedy recovery. The segregated route provides protection from motor vehicles along its length and is being used by people who tell us they would never have dared cycle along the route before and with numbers of cyclists using the route continuing to grow, we will continue to carry out reviews and introduce changes and improvements.”

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